V 6.1 vs V 6.5 - Big Improvement

[PruSQLer]

Are there vast differences (i.e. improvements) between Version 6.1 and Version 6.5 of Business Objects. I've heard rumors that is the case. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[pabloj]

Multiple (non synced) queries in web reports.

Stick to your guns

 

[skrandel]

Alerts in WebI

Derived tables in Designer

Horizontal Bar Charts in Reports.

WebI is much more stable. Not perfect, yet, but muc better.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[blom0344]

Derived tables?

You mean you can create a 'view' definition on a set of tables and then add this as an object to the universe?

Steve, is there any info available on this feature?

I want to upgrade to version 6.5 ASAP, cause version 6.1 is the worst ****** of ****** since I started working with version 4.1.......

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[PruSQLer]

Ties, glad you asked that. I have no idea what a derived table is.

 

[blom0344]

Pru,

It is very much a QUESTION from my side. It would allow more flexibility for complex reporting...

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[PruSQLer]

Also, your "***** of ****" comment is a bit scary since we're in the process of installing and converting to V 6.1 and encountering more than a few problems.

 

[blom0344]

Pru,

I'll make up a list if you want me to

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[DrSmyth]

It's gotta be better than 6.1, cause 6.1 is terrible.... Full of bugs and things that don't quite work yet....

 

[nimmy99]

We are planning to go to Version 6.1b. After seeing this thread I am not sure whether to go to 6.1b?

 

[PruSQLer]

Well, do you have the option of going to V 6.5?

 

[blom0344]

The only real new option compared to version 5 is the save as Excel one. (report that is)
Unfortunately this does not work flawlessly either....

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[skrandel]

Derived tables let you use a select statement that is then used in the From clause of a query. Much better for performance.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[BrianTyler]

Hi Everyone,

This is proving to be a very interesting thread for many of us considering upgrades.

If there is only a dozen or so users using BO, and a couple of designers, is there any point in going beyond v5. We don't use WEBI, Broadcast Agent, SDK etc because the company will not pay any money.

Our users create simple reports, and our developers produce fairly complex reports. In each case the results are usually move to Excel using COPY ALL and Paste.

Any advice would be welcome

Brian

 

[blom0344]

Brian,

Little has changed from version 5. Version 5 ran on WIN98, version 6 does not.
Some users like the ability to save the .rep document as an Excelfile, but this does not work perfect either (numericals,dates). To my disgust little bugs from version 5 have NOT been resolved. Perhaps version 6.5 will have this sorted, but with your requirements version 5 will be quite sufficient I guess.
There is some debate about which version 5 is the best. Steve will have the best insight I guess. (probably version 5.1.8?)

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[pabloj]

Yes, IMHO, if you are in an FC only environment, there is no point in migrating to v6

Stick to your guns

 

[skrandel]

I used to agree with that. No longer. V6.5.1 of Designer has some outstanding features that will be a huge benefit to users of BO Client or WebI.

Derived Tables and Key Awareness can make things run MUCH faster and will help users alot.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[blom0344]

From Steve's description a derived table will allow a more flexible way to handle things. At the moment I solve this by adding custom-build views to the universe. However this is not always allowed (either by the DBA or by the vendor)

How this will increase performance is a little vague...

'Key awareness'?

Very anxious to see what version 6.5 has in store. If only the **** download would work

Ties Blom
Information analyst
tbl@shimano-eu.com

 

[skrandel]

Derived tables can give you much better performance than views. It puts a select statement that can be filtered and prompted with in the FROM clause.

We have just used this for 1 universe and saw reports go from 20 minutes down to 1 minute.

It's very powerful.

Steve Krandel
VERITAS Software

 

[PruSQLer]

Steve,

Do have a readily available example I can peruse? Thanks.